Glenn Danzig enters into a song the same way he enters into a room: Chest first. The hulking singer possesses a swaggering, predatory gait that doesn’t just inform how he performs his music, but also the music itself: These are tunes of lust, menace and the evil that men do, and they demand a physicality natural to this punk/metal paragon. During his headlining set at The Joint, Danzig threw elbows and upper cuts as if engaged in a street fight with his own songbook. Something of a composite character between Jim Morrison, Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley — with a dash of Vincent Price and a wrestling heel’s inflated biceps and bad attitude — Danzig’s a moody yet highly-charged, tightly-wound presence, his sonorous yet supple voice equally suited for conveying hell fire and heart ache, anger and longing. On Saturday, Danzig performed their third record, 1992’s by turns snarling and sensual blues-metal standard-bearer “Danzig III: How the Gods Kill” in its entirety, digging into seldom-aired album cuts like “Bodies” and “When the Dying Calls,” which have only been performed a handful of times previously. “I been saving up my pain / I’m gonna give it back in spades,” Danzig sang on the former number, delivering payment in full.

Church of the damned

Their faces were hidden. Their intentions were not. Features and physiques cloaked in black hooded robes, the members of Poland’s Batushka were one with the shadows at The Joint. But if their true identities were concealed, their motives were laid bare: to stir and to strafe in equal measure. The band’s name roughly translates to “father” in terms of how you might a address a priest, and they come costumed as sinister clergymen, their singer performing behind a skull-adorned altar, surrounded by candelabra. The religious connotations extended into the band’s bracing, yet rousing black metal: A trio of backing singers added Gregorian chants to complement Batushka’s frontman’s basso profundo vocals, lending a hymnal quality to the band’s atmosphere-heavy dirges, which then shrieked forth into a scabrous, blasting fury as the band ditched mood for malevolence. Better have said your prayers in advance.

Check your smile at the door

Some men just want to watch the world burn. As for Justin Broadrick, well, he’s here to supply the matches. “I declare, that we’re all just (crap) / And I believe, we’ll die like it.” Those were the very first words the Godflesh frontman sang/barked at The Joint during a show-opening “Anything is Mine,” spitting out the lines as if they were coated in something foul tasting. Nihilistic in sound and sentiment alike, this industrial-metal duo embraces austerity as an aesthetic, starving their songs of any fat, their sound skeletal, hungry, desperate. Bassist G.C. Green favors a seemingly bottom-less bottom end, while Broadrick cues up programmed beats on a laptop and harangues his guitar into making what sounds like melody’s dissonant death pangs. The result is this intense, motoric grind, robotic in its relentlessness, but very human in addressing feelings of alienation and despair. That being said, Godflesh offered no happy endings or sense of resolution during their exhilarating performance on Saturday. There was no need to, really, because, as Broadrick explained on a set-closing “Rats,” “You were dead from the beginning.”

Five Saturday highlights:

5. Monolord getting down like a Swedish Electric Wizard at The Joint.

4. The back-to-back metallic hardcore pugilism of All Pigs Must Die and American Nightmare at Vinyl and The Joint, respectively.

3. Goblin’s goose-flesh inducing “Suspiria” at The Joint.

2. Danzig leading the crowd in the weekend’s biggest sing-a-long yet during “How the Gods Kill.”

1. Repulsion’s Scott Carlson joining With the Dead on guitar for a crushing, set-closing cover of Cathedral’s “Ebony Tears” at The Joint.

Red Plate on the Las Vegas Strip serves a cocktail made with blooming jasmine tea

Red Plate on the Las Vegas Strip serves a cocktail made with jasmine tea

Benny the Ice Skating Dog

Benny is a Las Vegas Labrador who was rescued by former pro skater Cheryl Del Sanyo, and trained to ice skate. (Mat Luschek/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

The Nevada State Museum

The Nevada State Museum of Las Vegas, located at the Springs Preserve, covers all eras of the state, from prehistoric to today.

Throw a better dinner party

Cash appears at Baseball Winter Meetings

Lights FC mascot Cash plays the electronic drums at the EZ Inflatables’ booth on Tuesday at the Baseball Winter Meetings trade show at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.

5 albums to soundtrack your holiday gatherings in style

1. Various Artists, “Holidays Rule," with Rufus Wainwright, The Shins, Calexico and more.
2. Various Artists, “We Wish You a Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year," with Lemmy Kilmister, Alice Cooper, Chuck Billy and others.
3. Various Artists, “Christmas on Death Row," featuring Snoop Dogg and Nate Dogg to name but a few.
4. Bright Eyes, “A Christmas Album.”
5. Various Artists, "The Motown Christmas Album." (Jason Bracelin/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Inside the kitchen at Springs Preserve

The staff of Divine Events do party preparation in the kitchen at Divine Cafe at Springs Preserve. With nine parties the following day, this is a particularly busy time for the crew. (Heidi Knapp Rinella/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

WinterFest

WinterFest in Henderson.

Miss Rodeo America Fashion Show

The 28 women contestants of Miss Rodeo America compete in a fashion show at the Tropicana on Dec. 7, 2018.

Tournament Of Kings Holiday Show

Wizards and warriors are ready for the holidays at Excalibur's Tournament of Kings Holiday Dinner Show.

Take a dive with the Silverton mermaids

A visit to the Silverton Casino Hotel is not complete without taking in the popular, and very unique, mermaid show.

Cowboys and western aficionados can buy virtually anything at Cowboy Christmas

Vegas Golden Knights Christmas Display

In the Las Vegas Valley, the chances of getting a white Christmas are slim. But this year, you can have a “Knight” Christmas. A Henderson resident has a Christmas lights display that is synchronized to the entrance music for the Golden Knights. GG Misa’s Knights light show is played every 30 minutes from 5 to 10 nightly. His light show consists of two songs: Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” and the entrance music, “Le Castle Vania,” from the movie “John Wick.” The display is located at 730 Bollons Island St. (Richard Brian/Las Vegas Reivew-Journal)

Holiday Hooch At El Cortez is Just in Time For Repeal Day And Christmas

Holiday Hooch At El Cortez Is Just In Time For Repeal Day And Christmas. Janna Karel/Las Vegas Review-Journal

TV's LGBT superheroes

Green Valley Ranch's Winter's Village

The Mob Museum

Best Friend Menu Reveal Wednesday

Chef Roy Choi tells us what to expect from Wednesday’s Facebook Live Menu Reveal for his new Park MGM restaurant Best Friend. (Al Mancini/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Quick Chat With Criss Angel

James D. Gish and Susan Anton rehearse

Susan Anton will be special guest at James D. Gish’s holiday concerts Dec. 7 at Summerlin Library and Dec. 9 at Clark County Library. (John Przybys/Las Vegas Review-Journal)